


HEAD TRIP

by gongryongs



Category: I.O.I (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 02:18:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10479879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gongryongs/pseuds/gongryongs
Summary: head trip (n.)A mentally stimulating experience; an act or a pattern of behavior undertaken primarily for self-gratification;an exploration of one's own emotions and ideas





	

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [kpopolymfics2017](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/kpopolymfics2017) collection. 



> This fic was written for K-Pop Olymfics 2017. Olymfics is a challenge in which participants write fics based on prompt sets and compete against other teams of writers, organized by genre.
> 
> This is Team AU’s fic for the following prompt set:  
>  **Anda – "Taxi"**  
> [lyrics](http://lyricstranslate.com/en/taxi-taxi.html-14) | [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sy5iBXYx3E) | [supplementary](https://www.flickr.com/photos/52214493@N03/8038516482/) [prompts](http://66.media.tumblr.com/6cc27093d0a7a190f2e09e7239d96c2b/tumblr_oha5mvhHDX1v9m0i0o1_400.jpg)
> 
> The other 2 fics for this prompt can be found in [the collection](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/kpopolymfics2017). Competition winners are chosen by the readers, so please rate this fic using [this survey](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15k04HCL8lA5w8w_fXYY8W8bXvyBsDYq08kDuktU3DCk/edit)

**1.**

Xu Minghao found himself in a familiar position yet again. That was, drowning in heat emanated by human skin, under vibrant ever-changing lights, and with a lady sticking to his side. The lady would usually be a total stranger or a frequent at the club, the one by his side that time was the former. If he were to follow his routine, he would’ve held her hand and brought her somewhere more... secluded. That night was one of the few nights he had to cup her face in his hand, and tell her to meet him again “some other time”.

With his consciousness not quite abandoning him, he walked toward the exit door. He was greeted outside by the rain and a look from a man, standing by the door with a bottle of beer in his hand. Like any other drunk man on the verge of being stared at, he subtly lifted up his chin as a form of greeting. The man nodded and lifted up the bottle. Formalities.

The man commented, “Special occasion back there?” He then drank a sip of his beer before continuing, “You look really neat.” The man pointed towards Minghao with his beer hand and offered Minghao the beer. Minghao was dressed in a complete suit, with white dress shirt underneath. The man himself was dressed in a gray t-shirt, pair of jeans, and a hooded parka.

Minghao took the bottle and had a sip. “No. Left one for the club.”

He wasn’t the type who were comfortable having actual conversation with strangers, but it seemed that the man was the contrary.

“A bad family dinner?” He said with an empathetic face.

It was true that Minghao had left a dinner earlier, a business dinner. Back then when he left, his father had been conversing and laughing with rich ass looking men wearing shiny Versace dress shoes and obnoxious gold Rolex on their wrists. Junhui—the vice director of the company branch Minghao was supposed to manage—too, had been talking with clients. Being in such scene always made him nauseous. The hatred he always had toward his father bubbled up in his chest and he felt like he had to leave before he threw it all up. He went to the club to push the hatred back down with bitterness of alcohol and to drown his thought with the sensory overload the club offered. He left to forget things, but this man here sent his thoughts rushing back.

_If only he had followed his mother and sister instead of his father, if only he hadn’t been his father’s only son, if only he had never lived._

Minghao couldn’t bite back bitterness as he said, “None of your business,” before giving back the bottle of beer. The man didn’t seem to take the repulsion into heart, because he started talking again. 

“The club might be good enough to help forget problems, but have you heard Headtrip? I personally prefer it.” The man walked over to the garbage disposal and threw the empty bottle in. The rain had stopped by then. “I’m actually going for some right now. Wanna come?”

Minghao had tried a plethora of methods—from smoking, drinking and playing around with girls, to a variety of drugs—to prevent poisonous thoughts and memories from occupying his mind. He had tried everything in hopes of getting an addiction, and if he got extra lucky, he thought maybe the thing would kill him too. Luck, though, was as mythical as ghosts and God, and life was still as cold as ever. He didn’t die despite all those toxins in his body, and he still had to be the son of his bastard of a father.

“If that’s a type of drug, I probably have tried it, so no."

Despite saying something that did not welcome any reply, the man gave one to his statement with a chuckle, "It's not quite a drug, I guess, but it does involve it in some way. I'll be going then." He gave him a slight nod as he turned to cross the street.

The man's words sparked a little curiosity in Minghao. He was too emotionally tired to go anywhere else and deal with whatever unknown situations he could bump into, he felt the need to be at home as soon as possible. He wanted to rest and forget everything, but he also knew deep in his heart that he wouldn't be able to sleep even if he tried. Again, he cursed the fact that he had to attend a business dinner earlier and with that he also cursed his fate of being born as Xu Minghao. He hated this kind of nights, one he needed rest the most but also one when his own mind wouldn't let him get any. Trying one more kind of drug wouldn't be too much of a waste.

"Hey, hold up!" He called the man who was walking away.

He turned with a clueless face that looked so fake Minghao could laugh if he had not cared less. Minghao then decided that this guy was probably a distributor of this drug.

"Yeah?," he said.

"Give me that Headshit thing or whatever."

He gave an amused smile. "It's not something I can give."

When the man saw the confusion on Minghao's face, he continued, "But I can bring you somewhere you can get it."

Minghao rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure, whatever. Take me there."

"Okay," he gave a bright and warm smile. The curiosity that was sparked earlier grew even bigger, because this man certainly didn't look like he was a junkie. 

 

 

 

After walking for a while, they arrived at a place Minghao thought was a bar. They came in and were greeted by a woman behind what seemed to be a receptionist desk. Unlike how it looked from the outside, the inside was more like a dim-lighted dental clinic with warmer atmosphere and way too many dental chairs. The walls of the place were painted creamy brown, with wooden floor and soft yellow lights.

When greeted by the man behind the desk, the man from the club—who was apparently named Mingyu—smiled at the receptionist, "I'll just have a quick peaceful trip. You can help him though," he said, motioning to Minghao who was standing behind him.

Minghao grabbed Mingyu by the shoulder and asked, bewildered, "What is this?"

"It's a gateway to the dream world," he said with a mischievous smile.

Minghao let out a mocking laugh, "Don't play word games with me. Just explain what this shit is. Clearly."

"They'll give you a shot that will send you to your subconscious. You know, put you to sleep."

Minghao's creased eyebrows slowly straightened, setting an unamused expression to his face. "I came this far for a sleeping drug? I'm out."

When Minghao turned to head for the door, Mingyu grabbed his arm and told Minghao to trust him. He said that they put other things than just sedatives, and that it would send him to an ‘otherworldly experience’. Unconvinced, Minghao said to Mingyu, “You find it fun. Good for you. But I don’t need fun, I need something to smash my head with. Thank you for taking me all the way here, but I think I’ll pass.” He then tapped Mingyu’s shoulder as he head to the front door.

“I come here to remember my dead mother,” Mingyu said. Seeing Minghao stopping in his trails, he continued. “My father and family don’t like to talk about her for some reason. The way I remember it, she was just a nice woman, a great mother. But it has been too long and I started to forget her voice. Even when I see her photos, I couldn’t remember how she was in real life.”

Minghao turned to look at the taller man.

“So I tried this thing and it took me back to memories I had with my mother.” He smiled, “I was so glad that I could see her again.”

Minghao stared at Mingyu for a while before saying, “That’s deep and all, but unlike you, I need to forget things.”

Mingyu grabbed Minghao’s arm as he turned to go again. “Remembering something that was lost is harder than getting yourself to lose something. Besides, why would they need this much equipments if it wasn’t strong enough? Just try it first, hmm?”

He could hear the rain starting to pour again, a great weather for some deep thoughts in his big empty apartment. Returning to the club was too much of a hassle, he was in no mood for that either. It would be better if he could just get smashed, but he just had to run out the previous night. Right then, Mingyu must have accepted his moment of silence as approval, because he started asking his name and signing him up.

They brought him to one of the empty long chairs. There was a small table beside it that was holding needles, tubes, and other related stuff. It looked far too serious for a drug intake, it looked more like what they use in hospitals. Despite all that, there were all kinds of pleasant fragrance filling the air, like the things they use for aromatherapy. The interior had this earthy calming colors. Looking at the details, it was like a hospital, a spa, and a cafe mixed altogether. The overall feeling though, wasn’t that peculiar. It actually gave him a calming sensation, it reminded him of that time he picked her sister up at the spa.

The man who was assisting him asked him to sit—lie down—on the chair while he prepared the equipments. After he was done, he asked Minghao to extend one of his hand and started feeling for veins at the top part of Minghao’s forearm. He dabbed a spot and told Minghao that he would start injecting the needle. Connected to the needle was a thin tube leading to a cylinder full of translucent purple liquid. The man inserted the needle and told him to relax while it kicked in. He then pressed a button on the cylinder. Minghao stared at the ceiling as both the queasiness and drowsiness approached him.

 

 

 

He found himself sitting in a moving taxi on an empty street. He could see the driver peeking through the rear mirror and smiling as he said, “Welcome to your mind, sir. 

Minghao took a better look at the man and realized that he was the one who injected the drug earlier. He then looked around and started rubbing the seat leather. He was shocked to find that he could feel a little sensation on his skin, despite it not being like an actual touch he could feel in the real world. After explaining a few rules of the Headtrip world, the driver asked, “Where to?”

Minghao hadn’t even have anywhere to go in the real world, let alone here. He didn’t know where he was, other than being inside a plain old taxi. He looked to the outside and found that he was at a street that looked exactly like the one where his apartment was at—the cafe, bar, and even mini market were all the same. A few blocks away, though, stood ‘his’ company, with his father’s main building a few blocks apart from it.

“I’ll just get off here first,” he told the driver—the Headtrip staff.

As soon as he stepped out of the car, he could hear what he thought was the sound of ocean waves—which was odd, considering his neighbourhood was in the middle of the city. He brushed it off, remembering that this was the dream world with infinite possibilities, that the sound could be anything and he didn’t really want to care. He walked along the familiar street that felt a bit more somber as the sky was cloudy and the street totally empty of both vehicles and people. After a while, he stopped in his tracks in front of a shop that was as oddly there as the sound of the waves. It was a bakery with a display that looked older than other stores around it. The one he used to go to when he was little. Before he knew it, Minghao was hearing bells as he was entering the shop.

Contrast to the air outside, the bakery was warm and filled with sweet smell of fresh bread and pastries. The racks were full of puffy bread, some were even still exuding warm air. Even then, there were no signs of other person beside him. He tried peeking behind the counter and into the kitchen, but he found no one. Right then, he felt a vibration in his pants pocket. His hand shuffled into it to find his phone ringing from a call. The caller ID showed the name of her sister—Jieqiong.

“Minghao ge!” A cheerful voice was heard upon picking up the call.

He should have expected it from the ID, but hearing her voice on the other side sent a pang in his heart.

“Jie...qiong?”

She started talking quickly and excitedly, just like her usual way of talking. “Why are you so surprised? It’s not like I never call or anything. Where are you right now? Let’s meet up!"

“Meet up?” Minghao was still taken aback, “But why are you here...?”

She answered after a brief silence, still in her cheerful tone—like it was a normal thing to say, “Well, I don’t know. It’s your mind! You’re the one who make things happen. So? Meet me in front of the apartment?”

What she said surprised Minghao even more, but he agreed to it because she kept pushing him. He hadn’t expected for the people in his mind to have self-awareness like Jieqiong did earlier. While thinking more of it on the way to the apartment, he realized that Jieqiong was always like that; quick-witted and honest in her own way. Approaching the apartment building, he could recognize a lone figure standing in front of it, pacing back and forth, left and right. She was wearing short pants, her favorite pink shirt, and a jean outerwear that he had given for her birthday once. When she saw him, her face lit up, thin lips forming into a wide smile.

“You must’ve missed me a lot, huh?” she said when he was close enough.

“Not really.”

She pouted while mumbling to herself, “Why won’t he just admit it already.”

_It’s because admitting it won’t bring you to me._

“Well then,” she said as she grabbed his hand, “You still gotta have fun with me while we’re here. Let’s go.” She started running, dragging him behind her.

The clouds cleared up, revealing a light blue sky.

 

* * *

 

_Minghao looked over his blankets when his bedroom door was creaked open by a little girl._

_“Ge…” She called, clutching a pillow in her arms. “Can I sleep with you?”_

_When she said it, she almost broke into tears. He let her in and scooted over to give her space on the bed. She slipped under the blanket, putting her into a warm position beside her brother._

_Minghao closed his eyes to go back to sleep, when Jieqiong said, “Ge, I’m scared.”_

_He told her to close her eyes, and count baby sheeps in her head so she didn’t imagine the monsters._

_“No ge,” she said, “I’m afraid we won’t all be together again.”_

_Minghao understood then that she was talking about their mom and dad’s frequent fight. He had predicted the worst things, so he wouldn’t be surprised even if they got a divorce, but JIeqiong seemed to still be rejecting that thought._

_He then said to her, “Even if mom and dad are not together, you will always have me.”_

_“Promise?” she said with eyes glistening with tears._

_“Yeah. Go to sleep now, okay?”_

_“Okay,” she went to sleep with a smile that night._

 

* * *

  

**2.**

Minghao woke up this time on his bed with an amplifying pounding in his head. He remembered drinking last night and it brought his thirst to attention. He was in the kitchen drinking almost a whole jug of water when the obnoxious sound of his phone echoed through the huge room. He went over to the living room to find it lying on the floor near the coffee table.

“What, Mingyu,” he greeted the man on the other side.

“Heeeey. Jeonghan told me you made an appointment for tonight?”

Since his first Headtrip experience, he had spent more nights there with the Jieqiong of his mind. That, in turn, had reduced the frequency of his club-hopping endeavours and the amount of drugs he took—aside from what they use at Headtrip. In a lot of those visits, Mingyu was there at Headtrip. Minghao was convinced Mingyu was a staff.

He tried to avoid talking to Mingyu all those time, as he was a bit embarassed at the fact that he had been coming a lot, especially because he was sceptic at first. Mingyu, though, was having none of that and continued to start conversations with him every time they bump into each other. Through those interactions, both of them learned about each other; how Mingyu was actually the son of Headtrip’s CEO and Minghao of one of the biggest Chinese businessman in Korea, about Minghao’s sister, about Mingyu’s father’s expectations of him, and about Minghao’s parents’ divorce.

“What does it have to do with you?” He still wasn’t used to the other man’s upbringing, all good-hearted and friendly—it reminded him a little of Jieqiong.

Mingyu let out a little scoff, “Nothing, I just haven’t met you recently. I was busy and all.”

“Hmm. I was busy too.” He wasn’t lying. He hadn’t been busy all the time, but he had a meeting with the board of the company earlier that week.

(It consisted of them telling him for the thousandth time to put more thought into managing the company. They said that he shouldn’t let Junhui get all the credit. He responded by saying, “That’s why I always told you to hand the company to Junhui.” He knew that couldn’t happen as long as he lived, so it was really said for the sake of pissing them off.)

Thanks to that nudge and good mood from ‘meeting’ Jieqiong regularly, he did make an effort of attending a launching party his company had that week.

“Yes, yes, Mr. Xu. Good news for you, I’ll be at Headtrip tonight. Woo!” Mingyu whooped excitedly while Minghao received it with an eyeroll.

“Bye.” Minghao hung up.

 

 

 

When he visited Headtrip that night, Minghao was welcomed by Mingyu who was talking with the receptionist that day—Yoon Jeonghan. Mingyu greeted him with his sunny stupid smile when he came through the door, “Hey it’s Minghao!”

Minghao just ignored him and went straight to register his admission.

“Yo that’s cold,” Mingyu commented. After his registration was taken care of and he proceeded to go inside, Mingyu called out to him, “Say hi to Jieqiong for me!” To which Minghao just waved his hand in a shoo-ing motion.

When Minghao was out of sight, Jeonghan said to Mingyu, “He’s been coming a lot. And I mean, more-than-twice-a-week lot.”

“He just wants to see someone he loves. He doesn’t have anyone to go to,” Mingyu said, smile off his face with a serious look replacing it. 

“He’s like you, but at least you know how everything works so you can control when you go,” Jeonghan said, “You know there are news of people getting too deep under.”

“I know,” he said, face showing an expression of concern, “I’m worried too.”

 

 

 

The wind was blowing quite hardly at the riverside where Minghao and Jieqiong were sitting. Jieqiong squealed as it blew her hair wildly all over her face. Minghao laughed and Jieqiong got mad at him for not helping her. “Stop laughing and help for once,” she said, slapping his body once after getting back to clearing the hair out of her face. The sun was setting very slowly, allowing him to see the colorful sky a bit longer than he could in the real life. Minghao’s life had never been hectic, he had people to do stuff for him, but he could never felt the peacefulness that moment gave him.

Jieqiong stared at the Minghao who was laughing, until he finally stopped.

He stroked her hair as measly attempt to tidy it up, “You should see your hair right now,” he said with a chuckle. Jieqiong muttered a shut up. He then pulled her head into his arms, wrapping her hair so the wind couldn’t blow it wild again. They sat there in silence looking at the sky changing its colour.

“You know,” Jieqiong started, “You shouldn’t be here too much.”

“What, you’re bored of me?” Minghao said, looking at her face with a fake hurt expression.

“Yes, yes I am!” she said jokingly. Minghao hit her head once. “But really, you saw the news too that day. You should just come here from time to time.”

“I know, I know, I just really miss you these days.” Minghao sighed and stroked her head with his other hand. “Just, let me visit you for a while, okay?”

Jieqiong let out a massive sigh and muttered, “Wait until I visit you in your real dreams.”

“Then I'll be happier,” Minghao said as he pinched her cheeks.

 

* * *

  

_It was a plain rainy morning when he was woken up by a call. He assumed it was Jieqiong, because mornings were when she usually called. He mumbled a sleepy hello. The other side was silent before he heard a sob. He then checked the screen of his phone only to see it showing an unknown number._

_“Hao...” It was obvious that the voice on the other side had been crying. The voice was covered by the sobbing sound, but Minghao could almost recognize it._

_“Mom.....?” He asked to make sure, even if it was almost certain, judging from the way she said his name. It then hit him that something must have been very wrong if she called her—and while crying at that. He then was hit with a wave of panic. “What’s wrong??? Are you okay? Where’s Jieqiong?”_

_The sound of sobbing on the other side then become more irregular, it sounded like she was trying to stop herself from crying. He had a bad feeling. Usually, Jieqiong would be the one to be the problem solver, the cool-headed one who always had to calm their mother down when there were troubles. She would have been the one who called if anything bad happened._

_“Jieqiong...” she said while trying to regulate her breathing, “She... went unconscious a few hours ago and the doctors decided to put her in the ICU.”_

_The world came crashing down, his thought ran wild from imagining Jieqiong and thousands of bad possibilities._

_“How? Was she in an accident??”_

_“Hao... Jieqiong has been sick for the past month...” Minghao fell silent. Her mother took it as a signal to continue, “She’s been having bad headaches and was admitted to the hospital for a few times. Your father told her to get scans, which she did last week. And they said... it was brain tumor... Hao... I told her to tell you immediately, but she kept putting it off...”_

_He recalled the times she called with her usual cheery self. The calls had been short, as she said she had been busy. She had been busy, he figured. Busy overcoming her own pain._

_Out of his daze, he told her mother, “I’ll be there.”_

_A few minutes after he hung up and was standing still to process things, Junhui called telling him to get ready for his flight._

_The trip to the airport was excruciating, he couldn’t bear passing too much time until he could reach her side. The plane ride was even more much more so. He hated to be beside his father and was only able to bear with it because Jieqiong was all that occupied his mind. He tried so hard to suppress all his bad thoughts and feelings (what if she’d never wake up, what if he couldn’t get there in time), and it sucked all his energy. He fell asleep the rest of his flight._

_After meeting his mother, he took turn with his father to visit Jieqiong in her room. It hurt him so much having to see Jieqiong in this state, when he had listened to her voice a few days ago and had seen a form of her so much for the past few months. A form of her. A virtual form of her. She was right, he had been lying to himself when all this while he didn’t even know how she was doing. He grabbed her hand, praying that he could meet the real her again. He didn’t realize he was shedding tears._

_The next day, he was once again reminded that God was a myth._

_Her funeral was held on a sunny day. The air was warm and the sky was clear. Reality was really fond of irony, Minghao figured._

_He passed the day absent-mindedly, having nothing in his mind and before he knew it, he was in a taxi on the way to the airport. He felt a sense of déjà vu, he wondered if time turned back, or if he was imagining what just happened. He was forced to accept that it was, in fact, reality after he realized that his father was beside him._

_At that moment, he felt his blood boil as he went through what just happened._

_“You knew about the tumor,” he said. “You were the one who told her to get checked. You knew it after she got the results and you didn’t tell me.”_

_There was only silence for a while. Minghao averted his eyes back to the car windows._

_“She didn’t want to make you worry,” his father answered with the most flat tone a person could manage._

_“Was it her, or was it because you wanted me to keep doing well with the company?”_

_His father did not give him an answer._

_“She was your daughter and my sister. What are we to you, really?”_

_The rest of the journey back home was spent with the same silence as when they left Korea, only this time it was a cold unbreakable ice._

 

* * *

  

**3.**

_Sound of waves crashing the shore. Sunshine too bright for him to fully open his eyes. Sound of a little girl’s laughter._

_Another laughter, one almost too foreign for him to recognize—his own._

_That day was bright and warm. Everything were; the sand on his feet, the sea water that was splashed on him, the tone of the voices calling his name, and the smiles on his parents’ faces._

 

 

 

It contrasted the day Minghao woke up to: chilly, the sky outside dark as the rain poured relentlessly. He felt the pounding in his head amplify as he registered the sound of each raindrop hitting a surface. He had drank himself to sleep. He contemplated over getting liquor as soon as he woke up—maybe that would chase the dream away—but decided against it because of his parched throat. He moved to the living room couch and lied back down, listening to the rain with his arm over his eyes.

The scene he had just seen in his dreams sneaked back into his head. Every time he tried to push it away, it showed more details of the moment. The summer dress her mother was wearing, the salty smell of the water, the little girl’s smiley face.

He was then hit with a sense of urgency. He needed to see her. He hurried out of his room and toward the parking lot to get his car.

 

 

 

He calmed himself down before entering the place. They wouldn’t serve a manic-looking man.

He greeted Jeonghan, who was the one at the front desk that day. He asked for a long trip under, giving “I had a long week” as an excuse. Jeonghan went on with his work as he registered Minghao and gave him a “Have a nice Headtrip today, Minghao.”

What Minghao didn’t know was that after he got in, Jeonghan immediately contacted Mingyu.

 

 

 

He first woke up in his empty little city. He went around and around looking, but he couldn’t find her. Then, his mother showed up and pulled him into what seemed to be a hospital. In it was Jieqiong, lying lifelessly on a bed. He hugged her and cried himself out, cried until he lost his energy and fell asleep.

 

 

 

Then, he woke up at the side of the river they went to last time he was here. She was there, standing and smiling beautifully. She started sitting right beside the river, with her feet in the water. He sat beside her. She then dove into the crystal clear water, and Minghao could see that she swam deeper and deeper. He couldn’t lose her so he followed her and dove.

 

 

 

The last time he woke up was in an empty house with wooden walls. The air was hot, and he could hear the sound of waves crashing the shore. He walked over to the kitchen and found little kids’ drawings stuck on the refrigerator with a magnet. One was of a deformed unicorn, with a girl wearing a puffy dress and a wedding veil. Another one was of two couples of male and female, one bigger than the other couple. He found a photo stuck above the two drawings, it was of his mother and a little girl—Jieqiong. Remembering why he was there, he ran outside of the house and started looking around for the girl.

He found a little girl crouching on the shore, right where the waves stopped. He wondered if she was who he was looking for, just in a form he didn’t expect. The girl turned her head when he tapped her shoulder and said, “Hao ge?” And at that moment, Minghao hugged the girl so tight, with no intention of letting her go.

 

 

 

Days have passed, sunsets and sunrises have shown themselves several times after Minghao came back to the beach house of his childhood. Each day, he spent all of his time with her, playing in the sand and in the water. Sometimes he could hear the sound of their mother from inside the house, calling them to eat. At those times, there would be food served on the table as soon as they got in the house. He watched Jieqiong grow up drastically, from a little girl, then to a middle school student, then before he knew it, she had fully grown into the young lady he had last seen. Sometimes, she would remind her that there was a world aside of this one, but Minghao wouldn’t hear any of it.

One day, a man came into the house frantically, running around the house like a mad man. He looked a bit familiar, with his tall body, brown hair, and a pair of big, concerned eyes. He had a shining transparent bracelet on his wrist like Minghao did. As soon as the man caught a sight of Minghao, he grabbed Minghao’s arms.

He came at him and started pulling his arm, saying, “Xu Minghao! Get to your senses! We have to go back.” But Minghao wasn’t able to recall who this man was and where to ‘go back’ to. He told the man that, and the man slapped his face. He started feeling angry, but the man was showing a rivaling angry expression on his face.

“See this bracelet? This means you are not from this world,” he said as he lifted Minghao’s arms for him to see, “You have to come with me before this broke, or you’ll be trapped here. Come on.” He pulled Minghao again.

To that, Minghao pulled his hand and said to him, “I am not trapped. I like it here.”

“I can spend all my time with Jieqiong.” The memories of her death flickered in his mind. “I have a feeling that I can’t do that other than here.”

They both stood still in their places, until Mingyu broke the silence.

“If you’re trapped here, you’ll die. You’ll be abandoning your living mother and father.”

“I don’t care, Mingyu,” Minghao answered. The expression and tone of his real life self returning. “They’ve been selfish and I want them to lose everything they have. And if I die, I would actually be with Jieqiong.”

Minghao then pulled the bracelet on his wrist, using all of his strength until it snapped. He then handed it to Mingyu.

“Don’t forget to visit your mom on your way out.”

He walked towards the house, leaving Mingyu with guilt, sadness, envy, and a dilemma.

 

* * *

 

 

**1.5**

_Minghao took a better look at the man and realized that he was the one who injected the drug earlier. He then looked around and started rubbing the seat leather. He was shocked to find that he could feel a little sensation on his skin, despite it not being like an actual touch he could feel in the real world._

_"We have few rules regarding the Headtrip world." The driver said, catching Minghao’s attention._

_“First, your world is mainly made up of your memories and imaginations, except for the basic frame—the existence of land beneath your feet, the sky—but you can change all that if you want. Most of the people you meet here will be from your mind, unless they’re users who entered your world through the Headtrip central office.”_

_After taking a second look around each details of the taxi, he felt a sense of discomfort from the taxi of a certain bitter memory._

_“Second,” the driver continued, “that shiny band on your wrist indicates that you were sent under by and are kept safe by Headtrip. Meaning, Headtrip’s technology is still holding your consciousness to your body and if the band is not intact, Headtrip will have a problem holding your consciousness.”_

_“What do you mean?” Minghao asked. This is by far the most complicated form of entertainment Minghao had ever tried._

_The driver answered Minghao’s question with further explanation of the system, “Headtrip allows you to get into your subconscious and beyond. The deeper you are, the weaker the bond of our technology will have with your consciousness.” He hesitated a little but continued, “Some—very few—people get very deep and got trapped with their deepest desires.”_

_Minghao recalled seeing a report on the television about someone being in a comma after doing something in what Minghao remembered as a ‘dream clinic’. He didn’t pay attention too much to it, he didn’t realize it was Headtrip._

_"That leads us to the final, most important rule: don't get too deep and too attached," the driver said. "It could kill you."_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to team for the suggestions regarding this fic!! I might not use all of your (and my) ideas, but know that I wouldn't be able to put this thing together without your ideas. Thank you to our team mommy who answers my petty questions and for managing everything. A big thank you to C my awesome beta!!! <3 Thank you for taking your time off and beta-ing it while eating lol. This fic would be a lot more pointless if it weren't for you. 
> 
> Lastly, hope you readers enjoyed this thing! Don't forget to vote for this round and do tell me what you think about this fic in the survey/comment section :)


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